A few years ago, if a man had asked me, “What does it look like to struggle against pornography?” I’m not sure I would have had an answer, not one I could articulate anyway.

For the last few months, I’ve been doing a lot of reading and writing about the topic of pornography. I’m not ready to post any of the findings yet, but I thought I’d show you where the “table of contents” is headed. Look for more on this topic from me in 2017.

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Introduction

Part I: Foundations

1. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, ye must be born-again.
2. Get your worldview right. [Sex is not god or gross. Sex is a good gift from a good God.]
3. Acknowledge the beauty of the lordship of Christ in all of life.
4. Believe sexual sin is wrong and cultivate a hatred of it.
5. Fight for superior joys.
6. Recognize the grave danger.
7. Run like the wind.
8. Pray.
9. Make it personal: the women are real image bearers.
10. Remember that your holiness (and sin) affects the whole body.
11. Through confession and repentance, expose sin to the light.

Part II: Cross-Training

12. Cultivate humility.
13. Replace harmful thoughts with healthy ones.
14. Memorize Scripture strategically.
15. Maintain a strong devotional life.
16. Don’t avoid conflict; engage it.
17. Run from, and become indifferent to, flattery.
18. Be intoxicated with your wife.
19. Avoid “dude-talk.”
20. Fill your life with things you love.
21. Cultivate the fear of the Lord.

Part III: The Nitty-Gritty

22. Stop masturbating.
23. Don’t be alone with sexual temptation.
24. Have an accountability partner.
25. Only have computers (including tablets and smartphones) in public areas.
26. Install accountability software on all devices.
27. Always be reading a book about the topic.
28. Cut off all access to sexually stimulating media.
29. Know your situational and emotional triggers; take precautions accordingly.
30. Use visual “smelling salts” to resist sexual sin.
31. Share the existence of the struggle with your spouse.
32. Go to bed when your wife goes to bed.
33. Communicate your sexual needs to your spouse.
34. Treat the sexual needs of your spouse as more important than your own.
35. As needed, seek professional help.

Part IV: A Bright Future

36. Become a passionate teacher and a spiritual father.
37. Maintain gospel-identity.
38. Understand the Lord’s discipline as his training of the sons he dearly loves.
39. Cling to Christian hope.
40. Whatever you do, don’t stop serving Jesus.

Conclusion

[Picture by Gilles Lambert / Unsplash]